From the Other Side
by Eladriewen
Summary: A near death experience brings Ty and Sully closer together, and leaves them admitting how much they mean to each other.
1. Shots in the Dark

_All right, I'll be brutally honest. This is my first Third Watch story ever. Ever! So please be gentle. All ideas have most likely been used before because character "death" and "revival" are very commonplace. Please don't shoot me. I'm not getting any money for this anyway._

* * *

When Ty first awoke from his mysterious slumber, he couldn't remember anything except the distant echoing of three sudden gunshots. The sound, nothing more than a memory now, was hard to place against the confused thoughts of the rest of the day. 

Ty definitely remembered getting up and having breakfast that same morning. He'd been watching some old I Love Lucy reruns until Carlos, his roommate, had complained about the television being way too loud. Dismayed, but not completely, Ty had gone to the drug store down the street to pick up the paper and a cup of coffee. Upon returning from the hustle and bustle that was New York City on a weekday morning, he had plopped himself down at the kitchen table to enjoy the sports section and his new drink, pausing momentarily to laugh at the obnoxious snoring that erupted from Carlos' room every few minutes.

The morning had waned on normally enough, with only two telephone calls to speak of. One, a telemarketer, and the other being Ty's own mother. The former had been no real surprise. Ty and Carlos had been getting offers for cable and phone companies since the day they moved in, and still couldn't seem to shake them. But the other phone call had been unexpected. Ty always called his mom on the weekends, and she would call him on special occasions, or to tell him about whatever big news may be happening with her or his sisters. Her message that day, though, had been a rather uncharacteristic one...

* * *

"Ty, I'm worried," she began. 

The seriousness in her voice had thrown him for a loop, and he allowed himself to sit, expecting bad news.

"What's up, mom?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"I don't know. I just have a feeling that something is going to happen."

Ty stifled a laugh, but could not withhold his grin.

"Mom, don't worry. I'll be fine."

There was a pause on the other end of the line, then an acquiescing sigh.

"All right, baby. Take care. Call me when you get home tonight, won't you?"

Ty's brow furrowed. "You do know what time that will be, right?"

"Eleven thirty."

He sighed. "All right, mom. I'll call."

"Okay. I love you."

"Love you too, mom. Bye."

He hung up, sighing. One glance at the clock told him he should start getting ready for work.

* * *

The day had continued on fine from there. Upon reaching the House, Ty was surprised to find his partner Sully in unusually high spirits (for Sully, at least) and Faith talking casually with her typically unruly partner, Maurice Boscorelli. 

The calm wasn't untypical really, but more often than not Ty walked into the locker room expecting a heated argument to ensue from Bosco and Faith, and he was very rarely disappointed.

* * *

"Hey, Davis!" Faith greeted from the back of the locker room, finishing up the lotion bottle in her hand with one final squeeze. 

"Yo," he replied, a grin on his face and a sparkle in his eyes to match. He picked his locker door open and began to shuffle through it, prepping to change into his uniform. "Nice day, huh?"

"Oh, it's beautiful!" Faith agreed, stepping up behind Bosco while rubbing her hands together.

Boscorelli sniffed the air a bit at her approach, then made an entertainingly disgusted face that allowed Ty a good chortle before slipping his button up blue shirt over his arms. "Do you have to wear that stuff?" he asked, casting a disapproving stare over his shoulder toward her.

Faith's grin immediately reversed into a frown.

"What 'stuff'?" she asked, rolling her head in emphasis to his debasing remark.

"That lotion crap," he spat. "It stinks up the squad car and makes me nauseous."

"Then ride with your head out the window!"

Ty turned to Sully, and the pair exchanged amused grins as the others' ceaseless quarreling. It seemed Ty wasn't going to be disappointed after all.

"Never a dull moment," the young man commented after Faith and Bosco had left, still fighting about...something.

"Tell me about it," Sully laughed, finishing the button on his left sleeve cuff. "You'd think they were married with all that nonsense bickering every day."

"Now _that's _a scary thought," he replied while wrestling with the top button on his shirt.

Sully laughed again and gave Ty a short wave, saying that he'd see him at roll call.

_

* * *

_And so the day had continued on, relatively slow but no less entertaining thanks to some idle chatter that the duo was able to maintain throughout their shift. Ty told Sully about his mother's phone call and got nothing more out of it than what he had told himself. 

"She's just being a mom."

"Yeah, I know, but I hate for her to worry," Ty had responded.

Sully gave an exasperated sigh. He hated for Maggie to have to worry too. After what had happened with her husband, Sully had been quite amazed that she'd allowed her son to become a cop as well. Not that the man wasn't grateful, he'd never had a partner like Davis. True, the kid was idealistic, perhaps too much for Sully's personal liking at times, but he was as trustworthy and good humored as his old man, and Sully liked to think that they were close for partners.

"I'm sure it's in her head," Sully tried to convince his partner earnestly. "She's just having one of those days, you know? It'll pass."

He cast a look in Ty's direction. The kid was nodding, seemingly satisfied with that response.

"You're probably right, Sul."

Soon dinner had passed, and the pair was facing their last hour before the shift ended when the call came in. There'd been a mugging out by Battery Park and 55-Charlie was being called in to investigate.

"So much for a quiet shift," Sully grumbled, turning into a parking lot to head back in the direction of the call.

"Too good to be true," Ty agreed before radioing in the response.

The park was completely void of any civilians, which wasn't all too rare on a New York City night. Especially one as cold as tonight. When Ty and Sully left the security of the RMP, they both groaned at the biting gust of wind that hit them full in the face, as if tempting them to just go away and drive back to the promising warmth of the Precinct House.

Or warning them.

"Let's head back," Sully said after forty give minutes of waiting, not really caring to hear a response. They'd been searching and grazing the grounds without so much as a shred of evidence that there had been a disturbance. "It's getting cold, and I'm not seeing anything."

A devious grin danced across Ty's handsome face. "What's the matter, Sullivan? Scared of the dark?"

Sully turned a glare on his partner, although there was a very obvious grin being held in his eyes. "No, but I'm sure as hell not one for freezing to death."

Ty nodded in agreement. The concept didn't sit well with him either, but he hated to just walk away if someone had really been getting beaten up out here.

"Tell you what," the young officer proposed, pulling his right hand up to rub the edge of his nose for it was swiftly going numb. "Why don't you go back to the car, start it up, _warm_ it up, and meet me on the other side of the pathway here. That way you can be warm, I can do a bit more checking, and we'll be back at the house in time for someone to pick up some dinner when the shift is over."

Sully frowned. He didn't like the idea of leaving his partner alone, though he wasn't sure why. Something, a small knot in the center of his abdomen, was telling his brain not to do it

"Look," the young man went on. "It'll take you just as long to get back to the car and around the park as it will for me to get through it. If there's nothing here then we'll call it a night."

"And if there is?"

Ty cast his partner a questioning gaze, then shrugged. "You said it yourself, man. There's nothing here. What's to worry about?"

There was a glimmer of doubt in Sully's eyes.

Touched by his partner's concern, Ty nearly considered acquiescing to Sully's desires, but he really didn't think there was anything to worry about. Chances were, the perpetrator (assuming there even was one) had run off a long time ago. Despite his previous feelings, Ty was pretty sure they weren't going to catch anyone tonight.

"All right. I'll meet you at the edge of the park," Sully said with another sigh. "Don't take all night."

"Yeah, yeah." Ty flashed a grin and started on down the path. "Just don't get distracted and head for that new doughnut shop across the street. You'll ruin your dinner."

"Shut up!"

The younger cop's laughter echoed far into the surrounding darkness. No one could get away with teasing officer John Sullivan like that, except for Ty, and he never missed the opportunity to take advantage of that option.

He continued down the path alone. And that had been that.

* * *

Each bullet that rang out was heard by the senior officer circling the park, and each one acted as an anchor, plunging his heart into a deadly, dark cold. Despite his hopes and common sense, something told him that those bullets had been deadly true to their intended target: Ty.

* * *

He had been walking for about five minutes when three gunshots rang out into the nighttime air, shattering the quiet, cold calm that had so deceptively and cleverly pulled Ty into its trap.

The first bullet fired took the young man out just above the knee, compromising any attempts at running away or towards help. The second had dipped into his shoulder, causing him to overbalance and slip backward into a sadistic dance for the wily sniper. His limbs flailed as his face contorted into the truest image of pain anyone had ever seen. In one single motion, Ty stepped back on his weakened leg and his torso became fully exposed to the faceless gunmen who did not miss the opportunity to finish his prey off mercilessly.

The third, and final bullet, broke right into Ty's chest cavity, ripping the pulmonary artery and sending a shower of blood behind him that sprayed into a fifteen foot wide arc. The young man fell to the pitiless, cold cement with only one thought on his mind; he couldn't breathe!

* * *

Again, the memories of the gunshots rang forth in his head, mixed with the sirens of a squad car and the desperate screams of sheer terror from Sully at the sight of his partner's broken body...

* * *

...Ty blinked, staring at the ceiling of his hospital room before pulling his gaze down to stare at the body in the bed next to him. His body. 

"So, that's it?" he asked no one. "I'm dead?"

"Pretty much," came an unexpected response. Ty lifted his gaze to see Alex smiling back at him knowingly. "Amazing, isn't it?" she asked, peering at the dead Ty Davis Jr. with a little emotion in her eyes. Her gaze skipped back to the nervous man sitting in the chair beside his own body. "You expect it to be more, you know?"

Ty frowned, not understanding.

"Death," she went on. "When everything ends, you expect it to be more...dramatic or something. You know? Because that's what we see from death. But when it's your turn to go, you're just gone. You don't get to see the weeping and the tears. You don't see other people dealing with their losses, because it's not you, watching from the sidelines, or even right up close and personal to the person who died. It's _you_ who's dead, and you don't get to see the consequences of it."

Ty didn't respond, bringing a sigh from Alex.

"There's no point in staring at yourself," she promised. "I can tell you, there ain't nothin' gonna happen with him anymore." She slapped the corpse's leg. "Come on. Let's go."

Ty looked up, frowning. "Go? Go where?"

Alex shrugged, looking around the room casually. "I dunno. Anywhere but here, I guess."

There was a pause.

"How long have I been dead?" Ty asked, his eyes still not leaving the paralyzing sight of his own dead body.

"You were pronounced dead on arrival last night," she said with a much softer note in her voice. Her hand found Ty's shoulder and stayed there for a few moments.

"I was?"

Alex nodded.

"Is there anyone here?"

The young woman cocked her head. "For you, you mean?"

"Yeah."

Her head bobbed to the side as if to peer out the window. When she came back, she grabbed Ty by the arm and dragged him out of the room. It had been closed off originally, the door was locked tight with no open windows to speak of, but apparently that didn't apply to them. At once they materialized outside of Ty's room, where a slew of police officers waited along with a few familiar faces from the F.D.N.Y.

His mother was sitting in a chair purposefully segregated from everyone else. Ty's sisters were talking to Kim and Faith while Bosco paced around the lobby casting apprehensive looks over his shoulder every few seconds. Carlos, like Maggie, sat dejectedly off to the side of the group, while Doc kept a frantic checkup on his watch while looking around the room as though searching for someone.

"What's going on?" Ty asked. He did not need to wait for Alex's response to find out.

"I told you everything I know!" roared an all too familiar voice. "Now leave me the hell alone!"

With that being said, officer John Sullivan came barreling through a pair of double doors opposite the corridor where Ty and Alex stood, invisible to those around them. He looked, quite simply, like hell. His expression was haggard; skin pale and beaded in sweat. There were bags and dark circles under his sunken eyes, indicating that, if he had gotten any sleep at all over the past twenty four hours, he'd cried himself there first.

"Sully!" Ty yelled, forgetting already his predicament. Alex moved to protest his actions; tell him they were futile and not even worth his vain attempt.

Both, however, were surprised when Sully stopped just short of Ty's outreached arms. But the big man's eyes, however full of tears, did not focus on Ty, or even Alex. Instead, they drifted to his left. Ty followed his partner's movements to find that they were both staring into the room that held his body.

Without a moment of consideration toward what those watching him might have been thinking, Sully approached the glass and lay a desperate hand atop it.

"I'm sorry, partner," he said, and the message drifted back to Ty, finding his heart and locking it onto this horrible scene. Damn it, he never meant to cause so many people this much pain! He'd never even thought on it before. He didn't like to think that people would weep when he died. It seemed so arrogant to think he would be missed. He had _hoped_ that he would be missed, but he'd never thought on the fact with any certainty. Had he known that so much pain would have been caused by his passing, he would have been a lot more careful...

"Don't be, Sul," Ty responded, praying Sully could somehow hear him in this newfound connection between the living and the dead. "It wasn't your fault."

"He can't hear you."

Ty turned around after remembering Alex's presence, and found himself suddenly slightly annoyed with her. "Then how come I can hear him?"

"Because that's how it works, Ty. We hear them, but they can't hear us."

"Why?"

Alex sighed, her sorrow becoming evident on her face. "Because _we're_ not the ones who need to move on, Ty."

The young man considered this, his eyes closing on the panged expression of his partner's face.

"Is there a way I can say goodbye?" he asked at length.

Alex stepped up next to him, a hand on his shoulder. "There is, but you'll have to wait."

"Until when?"

* * *

_Fin-a-la chapter one. Please review, as they are highly appreciated and encouraging._


	2. Saying Goodbye

_Okay, this one's a bit length and for that I apologize. However, it's not that bad considering that I was planning on making this a one chapter story. I think we're all very happy I cropped it up a bit, eh?_

_P.s. Thanks for the reviews everyone!_

* * *

"I don't think I can do this," Ty said firmly. He was sitting across from Sully in the hospital waiting room. The man had immediately wilted into a deep slumber the moment he had laid down. 

Ty watched his partner's face with curiosity. It seemed that even in dreams Sully could find no peace. The almost characteristic sad frown never left his aged face, and Ty also noticed every now and then that a tear was trickling down from beneath the man's closed eyelids, making Ty feel all the more guilty for having left him all alone.

"He needs this finality, Ty," Alex encouraged him. "And so do you."

"But...it's the last time I'll ever see him again."

She leaned on Ty's shoulder, patting his back affectionately. "If that's so, then make it count."

Ty sighed. Alex was right. It was time to say goodbye...

* * *

When Ty opened his eyes, he was surprised to find himself in, of all places, his squad car. A glance to his left told him that he wasn't alone, either. Sully was, as usual, in the driver's seat, pattering around in the RMP as though it were a typical day on the job. For a second, Ty wondered if the incident in the park and the hospital had all been some sort of demented dream, but as he watched his partner's haphazard movements, he realized that Sully's casual spinning and turning of the wheel was done in a manner that it would have resulted in an accident within seconds on the streets of New York City. 

No, this was still a dream.

"Hey, Sul!" Ty greeted as relaxed as possible. Sully, upon hearing his name, glanced in Ty's direction. He seemed extremely surprised to see his partner sitting next to him.

"Davis! What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were on vacation."

Ty frowned.

"Sully, do you remember what happened last night?"

The jovial grin soon lapsed into a very bitter frown.

"Sully."

There was a moment's silence.

"I thought you were on vacation, Davis," he repeated.

Ty sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought.

"Is that what you're telling yourself?" Sully said nothing, he simply continued to drive. "Pull over, man."

Much to Ty's amazement, Sully did, and without arguing back either. When the car came to a halt, he was surprised to find that they had, coincidentally enough, parked in front of their favorite diner. Ty sighed, not wanting to think back on the memories. He turned to face his partner, mentally prepping himself for the last time he would ever talk to the old man again.

"Listen, man. We both know what happened. I just...I want to tell you not to beat yourself up over it. All right?"

Great start, Ty thought sarcastically to himself.

"What's to beat myself up over?" Sully laughed, his casual visage so thin that Ty had no problem seeing through it. "You're on a well earned vacation."

"Yeah, a permanent one," Ty stated in a low voice, but the words had been more harsh than Ty had intended. He watched as Sully gripped the steering wheel tightly; his eyes staring straight ahead with a harsh frigidness, scanning the area around them. It was almost as if they were on patrol. That's what he wanted to think.

That's what Sully truly wanted to believe.

Sighing, Sully rested his head against the back of his hands. Ty frowned and placed his own hand on his partner's shoulder.

"It's bad enough that I'm going to have to wake up to this tomorrow, or later tonight. Multiple times, probably." Sully paused, lifting his forehead slightly from it's resting place. "Do you have to haunt me in my dreams too? Do you have to _remind _me that you're gone?" When Sully finally pulled his face entirely away from the wheel, Ty was surprised to see tears coursing down the man's already livid face. "Damn it, I'm too old for this." He looked at Ty then with anger in his eyes. "Why the hell did you have to be a cop, Davis? Huh?"

Ty blinked, astonished at the question. "Sully?"

"You had to come here. You had to be a cop. You had to be my partner, and you had to die?"

"Sully-"

"Why, Davis?"

What Ty might have called tears a few moments ago turned into full fledged weeping as his partner spoke the words that hurt him to say. Whether or not Sully realized he was crying, Ty wasn't sure, but he had no room to say anything while the old man continued on in his pointless rant. "Why did you have to go through the park? Why couldn't you have just listened to me? We could both be home now! Or out eating dinner. But you...you had to go get yourself shot!"

The younger officer fell silent, deciding to give his partner some open grieving room. God knew Sully would never reveal these feelings to another human soul for as long as he lived. If someone was going to listen, Ty knew that it had better be him, since he was the only living person Sully ever trusted anymore. Well, not so much living now...

"I was supposed to get the car, and you were supposed to be there," he went on. "Not twenty yards away, bleeding you life out on the damn sidewalks!"

"Sully, we didn't know-"

"If you would have listened to me, this never would have happened!" He yelled.

Ty knew the man's logic to be true, and at least Sully wasn't blaming himself. Not yet, at least.

"Damn you, Davis," Sully went on, using his palms to wipe the tears from his eyes and face. "Why do you have to try so hard, huh? You couldn't just leave it alone? Just this once?"

Sighing, Ty looked down at his hands. The guilt he felt was now overriding the desire to make amends.

"It's too late for that, Sul," he said, regret evident in his voice.

The senior officer turned to snap a snide remark back at the young man, but upon hearing his partner's tone, abruptly stopped. He looked up at Ty and saw for the first time, true emotional anguish in the young man's eyes. Suddenly, the pangs of his own heartache were washed away as he realized that this, for Ty too, must be extremely hard to bare.

"Ty?" he asked, wondering if perhaps there was more of a reason to this visit than to simply remind Sully of his latest, and perhaps greatest, failure.

There was a moment of silence as Ty gathered his words. He hadn't been prepared to voice his own sentiments. It really hadn't been necessary. He was more concerned for Sully now that the man was truly alone, and Ty knew that his own recovery would come in time. He was hear for Sully, but it wasn't turning out that way. Now that they were sitting together, Ty felt that it was important that he say things he needed to say, if there was every going to be _any_ healing done by anyone.

"Ty?"

The young man closed his eyes, willing the tears to go away. "I didn't want to die," he started, and realized already that now that he had begun, nothing was going to stop his words from pouring out. "I didn't know what happened after the gunshots. I just, subconsciously, I let go of everything." Ty turned to face his partner; the tears already forming at the base of his eyes. "Damn it, Sul. If I knew there might have even been a chance of this happening, I'd have never done what I did. I'd have gone back with you."

"Davis, I-"

"No, you're right. This _was _my fault...but Sully, I don't want to pay the price for it. I don't want to leave my mom and sisters behind. I don't want you to bury another partner. I'm not ready to tell you goodbye, Sul." He stopped and looked up. Sully's face was contorted in a mixture of grief and confusion. "I came here because I wanted to say goodbye; to say thank you for all the things you ever did for me; all the things you taught me; for being more than my partner and senior officer." Ty paused, wiping away the moisture in his eyes. "But I'm not ready, Sul. I'm not ready to say goodbye."

Neither was Sully. His gaze shifted to stare out of the windshield again. He was shaken, but mostly touched by the young man's words.

"What was I, Ty?" Sully asked. "Besides a pain in the ass?"

Ty didn't smile at the attempted moment of humor. His eyes were set on the glove box, desperately trying to set his resolve.

"A friend. A father...to a kid who lost his."

There was a pause as that statement finished. Sully considered those words carefully, and weighed his response tenderly.

"I never intended to be a father to you," Sully admitted with hesitancy. "Only because...I knew I had no right to take his place."

Ty grinned, almost knowingly. "You know, I don't think he'd agree with that."

"Some job I did then," he laughed bitterly. "You were under my care for years, and how many times were you shot?" Ty shrugged. "Yeah well, this last time cost me more than I was willing to pay."

"It wasn't your fault, Sully -"

"The hell it wasn't!" The old man snapped. "If I had followed my instincts I'd have never let you go. At least...not alone."

"Yeah, and you know what that would have accomplished? We'd both be dead."

"I could have saved you-"

"No, you couldn't have."

"You don't know that," Sully snapped again. Ty immediately bowed his head and looked away, the harshness of his partner's voice biting his heart as hard as the bullets had his flesh.

Sully sighed and redirected his own gaze, feeling guilty at having yelled at his partner. "At least I could have tried to save you. But now I'm going to have to live with the fact that I let you walk into danger while I was safe in the goddamn squad car!" Sully shuffled in his seat, irritated that this conversation was still going. "I have to live with that...for the rest of my life."

Ty considered these words and sighed inwardly. This man just wasn't going to learn. _He must love to wallow in his own self pity,_ Ty thought angrily. _He can't let anything go._ He cast a look over at his partner, who's face was contorted with grief and fear; and within his eyes Ty saw the familiar, never-ending distance that was brought about by a severe degree of self-loathing.

"Sully, think about it!" Ty snapped in such a tone that Sully's head actually whipped around to look at him the moment the words were spoken. "If either one of us had known what would happen, we wouldn't be here right now, would we?"

"No, we wouldn't be," the older man agreed. "But knowing that isn't going to help me tomorrow morning. It's not going to help me through the rest of the week; the month; the year...the rest of my life."

"C'mon man," Ty pleaded. "You're strong. You'll get over it eventually...and I'm sure your new partner -"

"Don't." The old man's face contorted into pure agony once more.

Ty stopped, not sure what he had said that might have upset Sully so.

"What?"

"Don't say it."

Still confused, Ty pressed on. "Say what?"

"Anything about another partner."

"Well," Ty frowned. "Don't you want-"

"No. I don't."

Sully's tone left no room for argument, and his voice, gruffer than usual, seemed on the verge of breaking. Just like his visage.

"Sully?" Ty asked, his voice questioning. Concerned.

"Yeah, kid?"

"What are you gonna do?"

That question unexpectedly hit home, bringing the grim reality of a future he did not want to see floating like a dark dream cloud at the edge of his un-desiring reach . The old man looked down at his feet and sighed desperately. That question, no matter how well meant, wasn't fair. What _was_ there to do? If Ty really was gone, and his heart told him that he was, then there was really nothing left for him here.

It hurt to think about it. To think about it at all, for Sully cared about Ty very deeply. Perhaps enough to admit: in the same way a father cared about his son. The only difference was that Sully found himself to have a great amount of respect for the boy.

The young man.

Ty had always tried to do the right thing. Why that was such a strong point in his character, Sully had never really known. It wasn't like Ty had something to make up for in his life. He had always been a good person, Sully knew that well enough. So why the Dudley do-right attitude? Sully figured that he would most likely never figure it out, and there was no way in hell Ty would tell him. Nevertheless, that trait, that desire to do good, had gotten him killed.

Why did the good people always take on the fate most deserved by the bad? Why did Ty have to die? Why not Sully?

Sully _would _have died for Ty. He cared about him _that _much.

He regretted never telling his partner this before, but everyone he ever admitted to caring about ended up dead. Ty Sr., Tatiana, and now, Ty Davis Jr. Except Sully had lost Ty before ever speaking any words that might have betrayed his inner feelings. So, in a sense, it didn't really matter now. Ty was already gone. There was no harm in speaking the truth, except that it would hurt him deeply.

"You know, I never had the opportunity to have children of my own." Sully started, seemingly out of the blue. Ty looked up, taken aback by the random statement. "At this point, I highly doubt I ever will." He paused, in which time leaving Ty an opening to protest, but Sully interrupted him, not wanting to get off the subject. "I honestly believe that..._you_ were the closest thing to a son I'll ever know. I never told you though, because..."

"Because why?"

"Because I was afraid to."

Had the current situation been any different, had Ty been alive at the time these words were spoken to him, he could have honestly admitted right then and there that he wouldn't have known how to react to those words. But things were going to be very different from here on out, and he knew that there could be no holding back. Not anymore.

"I guess it's too late now," Sully groaned, wiping a hand over his drawn features. "You're not gonna be here anymore."

Ty sighed sadly.

"I'll be here, Sul," he said at length.

Sully guffawed at the ridiculous notion. "Yeah? How's that?"

"Just because you can't see me doesn't mean I'm not there."

A long moment of silence followed that statement. Ty kept quiet, allowing his words to sink into Sully's head. He assumed that Sully would protest the idea. He'd think it a crazy lie, something derived from the hopeful hearts of the grieving to give them strength to move on with their day. Ty knew, that regardless of what Sully _wanted_ to believe, he would never allow himself the delusion of believing that Ty was forever with him somewhere in some bodily organ, who's main function was to pump blood through your veins.

No, Sully wasn't like that. He knew that Ty was gone, and that he was gone for good.

After a while, when the thought finally _did_ sink in though, the affects were not as Ty had planned. They were, in fact, far from what he had hoped..

"What am I going to do, Ty?" Sully asked. All at once, sobs began to wrack his already trembling form yet again. "What am I _supposed _to do?"

Ty tried to answer him, but found that there were no words in his vocabulary that could help to ease this man's pain. Helplessly, he sat and watched as his partner dealt with his inner demons all alone. Again.

"I feel like I've failed so many times. Whenever it really mattered...I couldn't help!" Sully turned to look at Ty. His eyes were filled with an emotion Ty didn't know until then that this man had ever possessed for him. "Part of me liked to think of you as the son I'd never have. And I swore to myself, after Tatiana died, that I'd never stop to protect someone I cared about. Of course, after her, all I had was you." He paused, trying to take a breath that would satisfy his lungs enough to allow him to continue on with his speech. "And here we are now..." he trailed off, leaving the weight of his words as an unintentional burden upon his partner's shoulders.

"Here we are," Ty echoed, seeing no finality in the words.

"Here I am; failing yet again."

Whatever had kept back inside of Ty, whatever had kept his tongue still from lecturing Sully his whole life about what needed to be done despite personal feelings...snapped at the words his partner just spoke.

"You didn't fail," the young man snapped. He glared at his partner with a severity neither of them was aware that he possessed. "Don't _ever_ think that. You didn't know. _I_ didn't know. Nobody could have known this would happen!"

But-"

"It happened, Sully," he interrupted. The angry glare never faded from Ty's wide eyes, and for the first time in John Sullivan's life, he compliantly waited out a harsh tongue lashing from a fellow officer . "Sometimes things happen and there's nothing you can do about it."

"And _that's_ supposed to make me feel better?" Sully asked incredulously. He turned to look out the windshield and rubbed a hand over his mouth. He was shaking out of nervousness and fear. He didn't like talking to Ty like this. Yelling at him like he'd done something wrong. Ty was trying to make a point, and as much as Sully hated to admit it, the kid was right. But that didn't make it any easier. "I'm supposed to accept it, is that it? Take it lying down and just get on with my life?"

Well, you got two out of the three, Ty thought to himself.

"No, Sul. I don't want you to take it lying down."

"Then what am I supposed to do, Ty?" The old man was pleading now more than he was asking. "What do you want me to do?"

Sighing, Ty cautioned himself against his words. He wanted to make sure that what he was about to say made sense, but at the same time he wanted it to be deep enough so that Sully would touch on it.

"I want you..." Ty began, but his words failed him.

"Yes?"

God, this was so hard to say! How did you tell a friend to deal with your own death? What was more upsetting than sad to Ty was going to destroy Sully for good, unless he could say all the man needed to hear right now. Everything depended on these last critical moments.

"I want you...to do whatever it is you need to do...that will allow you to move on."

There was a long silence, in which the only thing that could be heard was Sully's fierce breathing. He was trying to keep from breaking down. He wanted to keep his resolve strong, despite the many times he'd failed at doing so before. But the idea seemed so foreign to him. Too informal. Too impossible. "Move on?"

Ty nodded. "Yeah, Sul. Move on. It's what you're supposed to do."

The older officer sat back in his seat and stared straight ahead. What was Ty saying? Move on? What the hell was there to move on to? Sully had nothing!

He turned around to challenge Ty's statement, but stopped abruptly.

John Sullivan was confident that he knew his partner better than just about anyone. By one glance, he could tell the man's mood by his countenance, his tone of voice, even his body language. Death had seemingly changed nothing, for one glance revealed to Sully that Ty had no doubt, humor, or lack of belief in his own words.

The young man continued to challenged his senior officer through his stone cold stare, as if daring him to argue the words he had just spoken.

"Move on, Sul." Then, suddenly, Ty's gaze noticeably softened. "Please."

Sully looked away again, his expression perfectly reflecting the anguish he felt inside.

"To what, Davis?"

"Life, man."

"Life?" Sully laughed, sarcasm dripping off every syllable. "You've got to be joking!"

He looked down, suddenly, and noticed for the first time throughout his 'dream', that his hands were covered in blood. Shocked, Sully stared dumbly down at his crimson palms and fingertips. He knew it was nothing more than a flash from memories of the previous night, but the sight unnerved him severely. Sully knew that Ty's blood would forever stain his hands, even if he couldn't see it. He would feel it. He would always feel the phantom of the thick, warm liquid. These demons would never be erased, never be grown over, never be forgotten; and Sully realized that now as he examined the damning blood on his hands and fingers. This moment would forever be tattooed in his memories; in striking, vivid colors so that it would haunt him visually and mentally from his waking moments to his nighttime dreams. It would go down as the worst day in his life, and the one, fantastic obstacle that had defeated John Sullivan for the last time.

"My life is over," Sully unremorsefully concluded. He glanced up at Ty, who was staring down at the radio with a look of disappointment. When Sully turned to reconsider his hands, they were clean. The blood was gone, but the scars would remain forever.

"You think so?" Ty asked. There was an irked edge in his voice that made Sully reconsider his words immediately. "You really think that?"

John Sullivan sighed. "Pretty much." He rubbed his hands together, trying to shake the phantom feeling of blood from them again. It was a habit he would well be needing to get used to, for he half expected to find himself waking up in the middle of the night, feeling - but never seeing - the blood of his partner still dripping off of his hands.

"Yeah, well you know what?"

Sully turned to gaze at his partner again. Ty's countenance had not shifted. "What?"

"You'll think differently when you're sitting in my seat, talking to the one person _you_ most regret leaving behind." Ty glanced over at his senior officer, who seemed to be frozen to the spot.

Those words had struck Sully profoundly. More so than any physical blow could ever, or would ever deliver in his life.

"The?"

"Yeah, that's right," said the young man. "The person you _most regret_ leaving behind. Let me tell you something, Sully, life doesn't seem like much now, but when it's your turn to go, you'll have regrets. You will _always _have regrets."

Sully paused, then finally brought himself to look into his partner's face, which suddenly seemed surprisingly haggard, and very aged. "And what do you regret, Ty?"

The young man blinked a few times, not quite sure how to answer the question. "Does it really matter now?"

Sully frowned sadly. "It does to me."

Ty nodded his head in thoughtful contemplation, then peered at their surroundings in an attempt to give him time to gather his thoughts. It didn't help. But if he had to say it, he definitely owed Sully his final thoughts on the matter.

"I regret a lot."

This seemed to put the old man off. "Like what?"

"I dunno." Ty leaned forward, peering up at the skyline. There wasn't one. He guessed dreams didn't really worry about the details unless they were important. "I could have done better, I guess."

Sully raised an eyebrow. "Done better?"

"Yeah, you know." Ty frowned and sat back in his seat, glancing at his partner every so often. "A better son; a better student; a better cop; a better friend."

"That's ridiculous!"

The harsh sharpness and volume of Sully's voice caused Ty to look up in surprise. "I'm sorry?"

"For one thing," Sully began, "You were a good kid growing up. I know because I was there, and there wasn't a day when your dad didn't brag about something you did when I was working with him."

"Yeah?" Ty grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah. Another thing, don't talk to be about being a better student or whatever. You're one of the smartest people I know, or ever will know. And lastly..."

"Oh man," Ty grinned, sinking down into his seat as if embarrassed. Part of Sully suspected that he was. His smile betrayed that much, but Sully didn't really care. Davis didn't know what kind of a person he really was, and Sully believed that it was now his time to inform his partner of what he didn't know, even if it was about his own character.

"You were the best friend I ever had. _Ever_. Hell, you were great with everyone at the house. The only time I ever heard something bad said about you was because someone somewhere was jealous." Sully sat back, considered the blurred images outside of his car, then turned a grin back on his partner. His friend. "And I rarely heard anything bad about you anyway because everyone knew if they said something while I was around I'd put a soft spot in their head."

Ty laughed for a few moments. Sully joined in, suddenly feeling better about having gotten so much off of his chest. He really wished he hadn't waited to talk to Ty about this.

Waited until it was too late.

"You're a damn good cop, Davis. You're smart, you're funny, you're generous...everyone loved being around you. I never understood it, but somehow you were the light and life of every room you happened to grace with your presence. You were always willing to help...always wanted to do the right thing..." Sully paused, sniffling slightly and turning his gaze away to hide the new tears that were forming in his eyes. "You helped me through some of the worst times of my life, expecting nothing in return. And you didn't get anything in return either...I never even thanked you for what you did for me all these years working together."

Ty laughed again, shaking his head. "Now you're being ridiculous."

"It's the truth."

"Truth or not, I still have regrets."

"And I'm still waiting to hear them."

Attempting to think deeper, Ty finally reached what he believed to be the core of his turmoil.

"I guess...I regret that I died kind of young, you know?" The duo exchanged a glance before he went on. "I never got to do what my friends or sisters did. Get married, have kids." He turned to look at Sully. "I would have liked to know what kind of a dad I could have been."

Sully nodded, understanding. "You would have been a great dad."

Ty had his head rested in his hand, staring aimlessly out of the passenger side window. "Well, I'll never know now. Suddenly everything in my life seems so incomplete." He paused to catch his breath in his throat. "I died too young, man. Too young, too young."

"Yeah." Sully was still nodding his head. "Yeah, you did." There was a long pause in which both of them wondered what to say next, and who should say it. They had covered a lot, it seemed, but if a person were to consider having one last conversation with their dearest friend, talking about everything would have never been enough.

Sully knew he wasn't ready to say goodbye, but he was wise enough to realize that that fact wouldn't change a damn thing. Tomorrow morning, he was going to awaken into a world where Tyrone Davis Junior no longer existed, and that fact, though seemingly insignificant to the universe as a whole, was more than anyone should have been able to bear. But Sully was going to have to bear it. And this time, he would have to bear it alone.

He sighed, and glanced discreetly at the young man sitting idly at his side. For all the hard times in Sully's life, Ty had been there to help him out. For Tatiana, for all of the ups and downs his career had thrown at him, and even, in a sense, for Ty's own father's death. The boy had offered a sliver of comfort to Sully because he knew that some part of his old friend was still in the world. Of course, he had never hoped that they would have been friends in the same degree that Sully and Ty Sr. had been, but life tosses unexpected curveballs that throw even the most prepared person for a loop. Sully being partnered with his old friend's son had most definitely been the ultimate curveball for him. That day, they had started their partnership as officers of the New York Police Department, and they had also planted the seeds to a glorious friendship.

Now, that friendship had ended. Once again, death had swooped in and taken something else that was Sully's away for good. This time, though, it would be harder, because now Sully had no one to turn to. The one person who had always been there for him was now the person that was gone. What was there for him to do? Except drink himself into a pit of despair that he would hopefully never wake up from.

The younger officer shifted his position in his seat. "One more thing, Sul," he said at length.

There was a long pause in which Sully didn't respond. Frowning, Ty thought that perhaps the man hadn't heard him.

"Sul?"

Sully looked up with tears falling freely down his face. The depth of his despair had seemingly reached rock bottom, and on top of the abrupt realization that had hit him like a kick in the face, Sully could suddenly feel the echoing familiarity in his heart that was reminding that he was once again alone. This time, forever.

"What's that, Davis?"

"I regret never having told you any of this when it mattered."

Confused, Sully furrowed his brow and looked up. "Told me what?"

"How much you meant to me. My dad died when I was young, and I felt like I'd missed out on a lot of what the other kids had."

"Yeah?"

"I felt that way my whole life, really. Ever since. Until I came here and partnered up with you."

Sully grinned, only slightly, but obviously deeply touched by Ty's words. "Yeah?"

"Maybe it wasn't right away, but when I came to realize all that you'd taught me, all that you guided me through...I think part of me came to regard you as the dad I had lost."

Silence.

The old man didn't know what to say. The mere idea of Ty's words seemed more of an honor than he ever deserved, but to hear Ty speak the words seemed so much more...much more meaningful. Better than any metal or plaque or certificate he had ever received. Ever.

He recalled Ty Davis Sr. saying, that the biggest reward was that of being a father and watching your children take what you taught them and use it. Watching them grow into fine adults. It was better than anything in the world. Sully hadn't understood then. Hell, he'd only been a kid himself at the time. Probably Ty's current age. But he understood now.

Mistaking the silence for disapproval of the idea, Ty shrugged his shoulders casually and returned his gaze to the outside, watching shadows that he interpreted as people pass in silence.

"I'm sorry," Sully's voice sounded at last. Dry and cracked, it was evident that the man had taken up weeping once more.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," Sully went on. "I'm so sorry."

Ty turned his head slowly to gaze at the old officer, whose face was buried deep in his hands. His shoulders heaved with sobs as his breaths came in short gasps, and all the while he was hunched over to hide his disheveled appearance in the face of the steering wheel.

Unthinking, Ty reached a hand out to grasp his partner's back, trying desperately to comfort him. Sully leaned into his arms, still crying, but after a few seconds he pulled himself up and reached for Ty, dragging him close so that they could share an equal embrace.

With his face buried in Ty's shoulder, Sully began to sob violently.

Yet, as he held his partner in his arms, Sully could have sworn that he felt the warmth of the young man's body. He swore he could feel Ty's own shoulders rise and fall as he breathed, and the steady, oddly comforting, reassuring beat of his heart. But as real as Sully wanted to make this - as real as they _both_ wanted to make this - both men knew that this was the last time they would see each other again.

The knowledge made both of their hearts break, but only Sully wept. He wept for his own loss, and for Ty's as well. And with that he wrapped his arms around the young man as tightly as he could, hoping that some measure of sheer physical force would allow him to realize that his partner wasn't really gone. That part of Ty still remained, and perhaps if he held on to it tightly enough, God would grant him some measure of pity and bring him back.

But the words Ty spoke afterward shattered those hopes forever.

"Promise me, Sully. Promise me you'll move on."

The old man choked. "I don't know how."

"You will," Ty swore to him. "You will in time. Promise me you'll move on."

Sully kept shaking his head. The sobs never stopped, as he knew the heartache never would also. But as much as he didn't want to come to terms with it, he knew Ty was right. He needed to be strong, and he needed to move on. It was what Ty wanted him to do; and if that was what Ty wanted, Sully would do his best.

"I'll try," he whispered.

Ty nodded. That was all the reassurance he needed.

A few more minutes of tearful embraces, and soon the duo pulled away, each staring out of their own respective windows..

"Well, all right then," Ty stated at length. His heart dropped at the questioning stare from Sully, and he had to look away.

"All right, what?"

"I have to go."

"Go?" Sully frowned, going rigid in his seat. "Go where?"

Ty nibbled his bottom lip and looked at Sully with an expression that told the old man he knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Oh." Sully turned his gaze away, nodding sadly. "I see."

Ty sighed. "Take care, old man." He pulled the latch on the door and opened it, but he didn't step out. He looked in Sully's direction and smiled for the last time. "Don't forget what I told you, all right? This is a dream, but _I'm _really here."

Sully turned an amazed stare on Ty. "What?"

Ty's smile grew knowingly. "You're dreaming, Sul. But I'm really here."

"You...what?"

"And I always will be. You just can't see me. Remember that, okay?"

Sully blinked and considered these words. He didn't seem to believe what Ty was saying. Yet, as he looked up at his partner one more time, he knew that no dream could imagine the vividness of the past few minutes. It couldn't catch that characteristic glimmer of joy in Ty's brown eyes, nor could it recall definitely the exact number of lines that made their way across his face when he smiled.

He was dreaming, he realized. But Ty was also here with him. He really had come to say goodbye, and to make amends for everything that had never been said or misunderstood between them.

"Thank you, Davis," the old man said with a gentle smile. It was the first time he had thanked a person and wholeheartedly meant it. "Thank you."

Ty grinned. "Don't mention it." He pushed the door open and put one foot out. His gaze fell back onto Sully though, and he had one last question on his mind. "Are you going to be okay?"

Sully bowed his head in thought. When he brought his face to meet Ty's his eyes were full of tears. But there was a smile on his face as well, and a glimmer in his eyes that had been absent since Ty had arrived. "Yeah." He nodded his head. "Yeah, I'll be all right."

Nodding, Ty pat Sully's shoulder one last time, then stepped out of the RMP. He stood and found that he was no longer in Sully's dream, but in a vast white room. Blinding light surrounded him. Light, and voices...

* * *

_Fin-ala- chapter dos. Please review!_


	3. Relive the Night

_Okay, one more chapter after this. Brace yourselves, you're in for a surprise._

* * *

The minute Sully heard the first vociferous gunshot, he slammed his foot down on the gas pedal of the squad car and careened in a deadly arc around the edge of the park, stopping only when he reached the spot where he was supposed to have met Ty. The tires of the RMP screamed from the stress just as fiercely as his own fears screamed within his head. _Ty's been hurt._

He wanted to assume that it had been his partner's gun that had been shot, but Sully knew he would never fire on a perpetrator unless he too were armed.

Damn that kid's honor.

Two more shots shattered the nighttime air, and whatever part of Sully's hopesthat had heldwere immediately dashed out with their echoing promises. _Ty._

Without thinking of his own safety, Sully leapt from the car without inspecting the area; without closing the door or even turning the ignition off on the RMP. Whoever was out there shooting would easily have a prepared getaway vehicle waiting for them at the edge of the park if they happened to come along that particular way and miss the meandering police officer. But Sully didn't think about that. He wasn't really thinking at all. His private fear was too overwhelming to allow common sense to take control.

Sully never even realized that he was calling Ty's name the whole time he was running through the park. He would have been an instantaneous give away to the marksman that might still have been haunting the shaded areas around the paths, illuminated only by the treacherous and almost ethereal glow of man made street lamps.

A few more yards; a few more seconds of running and Sully's trepidation blossomed into a brand new degree of horror as he laid his eyes upon the sight he'd been most dreading to find: his partner.

Ty was lying rigid on his back. His eyes were staring sightlessly up into the midnight blue, almost black sky. Blood gushed and dripped from several wounds, one on the leg, one in the shoulder, and another in the very center of his chest. The severity of these numerous abrasions was emphasized to Sully while inching forward, for he had mistakenly settled one trembling foot into what he first perceived to be a puddle of water, but upon looking down he observed that it was in fact a growing pool of blood.

Wintry waves of fear made Sully want nothing more than to heave every last ounce of his innards out onto the grounds. This wasn't happening! This _couldn't_ be happening! Not to Ty.He struggled desperately to swallow the bile that threatened to rise into his mouth and concentrated on helping his partner.

"My God," he breathed, falling on his knees beside Ty's bloody form. After quickly radioing in for an ambulance and backup, Sully frantically started to apply pressure on his wounds. "Ty! Ty, can you hear me?"

There was a momentary pause in which Ty merely continued staring off into the sky, and for one exceedingly frightening moment Sully was afraid that he had already lost the kid.

"Sul?"

The old man's heart shattered at the sound of Ty's voice. He'd never sounded so weak or scared, and the fact that he couldn't seem to see anything made Sully's fears grow even more.

"It's me, man," Sully assured him. He had Ty's head cradled in his right arm while the left worked desperately to stop the blood flow from the more severe of the three wounds. Of course, his efforts were futile. Soon Sully was covered from fingertip to elbow in blood, as well as some of his chest and all of his legs (from kneeling in the swiftly expanding puddle of blood). He realized Ty was fading fast. "Stay with me, Ty," the man growled as the sirens grew closer and closer to the park. "They're coming. Hang in there!"

Ty forced his right hand to reach up and catch Sully's left. It was still covering the wound on his chest, but doing no real good. "Damn vest," he tried to joke despite the fact that he couldn't see or breathe properly at this point. Of course Sully knew he was referring to the bulletproof vest he was wearing. Usually they worked okay, leaving an officer bruised and sore for a few days, but nevertheless, it was better than taking a straight bullet.

Sometimes, however, they would, on occasion, fail. The bullets were too big, the gun was too powerful, something could always be a factor that made the vest fail. It happened all the time, but never enough to make Sully think twice about it. Until tonight.

Because tonight, it had happened to Ty.

"Don't worry about it, you'll be all right," Sully kept saying. Ty's hand gripped his firmly, and for the last few moments before he passed out they held eye contact. Sully read the look in the young man's eyes and cursed. "Don't do this to me, Ty," he snarled, not realizing tears were rolling unchecked down his face. "Don't do this. You're strong. You'll make it! You have to!" But Ty had already slipped into unconsciousness, and by the time Doc and Kim had reached him he didn't have a pulse, and his vitals were beginning to fail.

Faith and Bosco, the newly arrived back up, tried time and again to pull Sully away so that the frantic paramedics could do their job, but the older officer wouldn't have it. He wanted to be there for his partner. The kid needed him, and Sully firmly believed that if he wasn't there Ty would find it easier to let go. He needed someone to lead him to the light at the end of that tunnel, and Sully wanted to be there when he came back. He yelled and cursed as Bosco, Faith, and eventually even Doc guided him away from the scene, their hearts just as heavy as Sully's grief-oppressed body.

Eventually, teary eyed and shaking, Sully gave in to his peers' pleas and took to standing on the sidelines. Every synapse in his brain screamed to help, but he knew in reality that there was very little he could do. So he stood, as close as they would allow, watching -_only _watching- as Ty slipped away from them all.

When it came time for then to move the injured officer to the hospital, Sully eagerly trampled into the back of the bus, sitting as close to Ty as he could without getting in the paramedics' way. Faith and Bosco left the scene, each driving a squad car. Faith in 55-David, and Bosco in 55-Charlie. The entire way there, Bosco could not help but peer through the back windows of the bus to see if he could get an idea of what was going on inside.

"Damn," he hissed before pressing on the accelerator, eager to have this night over with. He'd never seen Sully look so worn and beaten before. Sure, the man had his days. They all did. But this was definitely going to turn out to be a dawning point in the old officer's grief. If Davis didn't make it, he'd be open for a whole new world of hurt.

A twinge of concern bit into Bosco's heart, but he quickly swallowed it. He couldn't worry about that now. They had a gunman on the loose, who would probably graduate to a cop-killer come morning.

* * *

Ty wasn't sure of where it happened, or when, or even how, but somewhere along the way, he had ended up back in the ambulance. He could feel himself growing weak and dizzy from the blood loss, and he had the slightest sensation of being cold and numb. He might have fallen back into the blackness that was threatening at the edge of his vision, but a voice brought him out of his stupor long enough to help him realize that wherever he was, it was real. 

"He's got a weak pulse," Ty heard someone declare while the images before him blurred. "and he's going into shock."

It was Doc!

"What do you want me to do?" asked a gruff voice to his right. Ty slowly turned his head and saw with great amazement and pleasure that Sully was sitting in a seat by his side. The man grasping his hand and peering helplessly up at the experienced medical expert.

A face leaned in to examine him closely. "He's awake right now," Doc said with a measure of surprise in his voice. "Try and keep him that way."

Doc disappeared out of Ty's line of vision, but another face soon came into view. "Ty?"

He blinked, not sure if he was ready to look his partner in the eye. What the hell had he just gone through? Ty didn't understand any of it. Where was Alex? What happened to him leaving everyone behind? Not that he was complaining. Despite the pain he was happy to find that he was still alive, but he didn't know what the hell was going on.

Had he been given a second chance?

"Ty?" The voice came again, this time with a firm tone of apprehension. A hand graced his forehead and brought forth the young man's full attention. Ty turned to face the stricken countenance of his partner, who seemed to be cracking a hopeful grin for the first time that night. "Hey, partner."

"Sully?" Ty wasn't sure what to say. He just gripped the man's hand tightly, never wanting to let go. Sully seemed to be in the same frame of mind.

He grimaced sadly and pulled his seat up closer. "It's me, Ty. I'm right here. I'm not gonna leave."

Ty wanted to say something. He really wanted to tell Sully he was sorry for having caused him so much pain. He wanted to say sorry for yelling at him in the squad car a while ago, regardless of whether it had been real or not. He wanted to say sorry for not listening and going back to the car when Sully had wanted them to. He longed to say something, anything that would take that troubled expression away from his partner's face, but he didn't have the strength. His life was waning, and no matter how tightly he held to Sully's hand, he could still feel himself slipping away.

Wish I could say the same, Ty thought as darkness began to trickle into the edge of his vision. A tingling sensation grew all over his body, and Ty was beginning to fear that he was reliving his last moments. He clutched Sully's hand tighter in hopes that it would somehow shake the impending doom.

"Sully?" he gasped, trying to find something to focus on; something that would keep him from leaving them all. Again. "Sully!"

Sully's heart, so tightly bound by fear, easily shattered and withered with the rest of his world. Not knowing what else to do, he gripped Ty's slackening hand with both of his sweating palms and cried desperately for Doc.

The paramedic appeared seemingly out of nowhere, examining Davis with a grave expression. "Kim! How much longer?"

"A few more minutes!"

Doc sighed and began to toss through the supply boxes. "We don't have a few minutes!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!"

"Doc?"

The paramedic looked up at the old officer angrily, but his fiery gaze softened at the sight of Sully sitting dejectedly on the nearby bench. His hand was still clutching his partner's, which was growing steadily colder by the moment. "Doc, we're losing him!"

"No, we're not," he argued, but Doc knew better. Sully had seen this enoughto believe he could easilyrecognize the signs of a potential loss on their watch. "Kim!"

"We're pulling in now!" she howled over her shoulder. Kim threw the bus in park and immediately leapt out, screaming for any around to help them. As Doc moved to open the back doors, a monotone note rang out from the heart monitor Davis was hooked up to. He turned around and saw one straight line skipping across the screen.

* * *

"You know, there's a chance he could pull through," Doc whispered to the forlorn officer who stood at the window to the operating room. When Sully didn't respond, Doc sighed in a frustrated tone that was not like him at all. "You really need to get some rest." 

"I'm fine."

Doc glared up at the man. "No you're not. You look horrible."

"You should see how I feel."

"Yeah well, I'm sure if only half of how you feel is written on your face, you should take my advice."

They waited a few minutes, watching as the doctors calmed in their operation.

"I'm fine," Sullivan repeated at last, a tired sigh soon following.

Doc peered through the window, his eyes carefully following every movement the lead operator's hands made. They were still working on that artery furiously. Apparently the bullet had done some real damage. Doc personally couldn't recall the last time he'd seen so much blood on one individual.

He hadn't been ready to say it, but his hopes had been lost the second he saw how many times Davis had been hit. Three wounds, one of which was possibly fatal, and the intensive amount of lost blood would have labeled him a goner right there at the scene. But he hadn't been willing to give up then and there. Doc knew Ty well enough to confidently believe that he was a fighter, and his closeness to Sully would not allow him to sit back and watch as the young man died. Doc was also willing to believe that if Ty had died, Sully would have gone with him. Perhaps not right away, but he'd been there when the cop had nearly destroyed himself through drinking once before. Without Ty, he'd be more susceptible to retreat back into that dangerous habit, leaving whichever arriving paramedics to find him dead from alcohol poisoning the next day.

With that thought in mind, Doc glanced over at his friend again. "You sure?"

There was another pause in which Sully seemed to be carefully weighing his answer. He nodded his head, licking his bottom lip. "I'll be better when I know for sure thathe'll be okay."

Doc nodded, fully understanding where the man was coming from. "He will be, Sully." He patted the man's shoulder before finally walking away, his mind deep in thought over the occurrences of the past few hours. He ran into Kim at the counter, who was already filling out papers for the hospital. When she saw him approach the deskher face grew long with worry.

"You okay, Doc?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered at length. "Just ...kind of worried about Sullivan."

Kim glanced in the cop's direction. He hadn't moved from his spot since they started the operation. "How's he doing?"

"Who, Davis?"

"No. Sully."

Doc looked back to the cop, then down at the paperwork he needed to concentrate on. "He'll be better when Davis is out."

"You really think he's gonna make it, Doc?"

The old man sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "I hope so, Kim. I really do."

* * *

Doc was right. He really didn't look good. 

Sully took a moment to examine his own reflection in the glass and sighed dismally. "I look like hell," he whispered, running a shaking hand through his hair.

"Yeah, you do," came a voice thick with New York accent. Sully turned to see himself being stared down by Faith Yokas, fellow officer and friend.

"Yokas," Sullivan stated in a method of greeting. He turned his gaze back to the operation, his hands jammed firmly in his pockets.

"Sully, how much longer you gonna stare at them?" she asked, stepping up to his side.

"Where's Bosco?" the older officer asked. He was eager for a change of conversation.

"Doing some paperwork back at the house."

"He know you're here?"

"No."

Sully sighed again and shifted his weight. "So what are _you _doing here?"

"Came to see how you two were doin'."

"I'm fine."

Faith bit her lip. Her eyes glared past the glass so as not to direct it pointedly to the man by her side. "You don't look fine."

"_Should _I look fine?" he nearly hollered at her. Faith merely shook her head, still not willing to meet his withering gaze.

She had to admit, there were days when Sully was about as socially appealing as a teddy bear. Then there were days where Faith would rather find herself staring down the death glare of a viper. Today was one of those days where she would definitely prefer the latter.

Just about anyone who knew John Sullivan knew that most of the time he didn't give a damn about anything, or at least seamed that way. But if you were wanting to see a severe change of pace in his mood or character, all one had to do was bring up his partner. Maybe he wouldn't talk much directly. It would embarrass him to directly reveal that he cared about his partner, and that he was extremely proud of the cop that he had become; but despite his countenance, anyone could see that the mention of Ty Davis Jr. brought an uncharacteristic, affectionate glimmer to the old man's eyes.

Now, of course, that affection was replaced with worry and fear. Faith peered up at him and saw that now. There were lines of worry etched all over the poor guy's face. Creases from frowning were chiseled into his brow, and the lines of his mouth were arched directly downward. Sully had never looked so old to her in all the years she had known him than he did right now.

"Sorry," he said at last, sighing again.

"Don't be. I can't imagine what you must be goin' through."

Sully nodded. "I hope you never have to."

"Thanks." Faith blinked a few times, surprised to find tears beginning to form in her own eyes. Davis was more than a partner to Sully. In a sense, he was as good as a son to the old man. Faith didn't want to imagine the grief and anxiety she would feel if it were one of her own kids in there. She'd have probably gone nuts a long time ago. Part of her was amazed that Sully was still in one piece.

"Look, Sully, if you want to go rest, I'll stay here with him. I can come get you if there's any change."

There was no answer. For a second Faith wasn't sure if Sully had heard her. She looked up and realized that Sully was blinking away the exhaustion that threatened to take him over. "Look, Sully, you're gonna fall asleep on your feet if you don't go lay down." She patted his shoulder. "Go on. I'll get you."

"Thank you, Faith."

He walked away and allowed himself entrance into the nearest lobby, falling asleep on the first bench he laid himself out on.

* * *

A few hours later, Sully felt a hand on his shoulder. He sat up immediately, rubbing a hand over his face. 

"Faith, something happen?" he asked, standing immediately. He was quite ready to get up and forget the terrible dream he had just had. Him and Davis sitting in 55-Charlie, talking about...about things Sully didn't want to consider.

"It's Maggie, John," came a small, indistinct voice from above his head.

Sully looked up to see the tear filled eyes of his partner's mother looking down at him.

His first instinct was to stand and scoop her up in his arms, comforting her and apologizing for the mistake he had made. But something told Sully that she knew more than he did. He stood, wiping a hand through his hair, and looked her straight in the eyes. It was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do.

"Is he...?"

Maggie bit her lip, the tears falling from her eyes. "He's going to be okay, John," she said at length. "It was hard there for a while, but someone's decided they're going to give him back to us."

Sully's brow furrowed in disbelief. "He's...he's going to be-"

"He's going to be okay."

And with that she burst into tears of joy, melting into Sully's arms. He held her there for a few moments, allowing the information to sink in. Then, he too began to weep.

* * *

_Fin-ala-chapter three. To be continued..._


	4. Second Chances

_YAY! Last chapter!_

* * *

It was three days later, and Sully was still spending every waking minute at his partner's bedside. No one asked him to. It was simply a self appointed responsibility that Sully felt was his personal duty to see through. The House had granted him a few days leave of absence for his sake, but Sully didn't think he needed it. His concerns rested primarily with Ty, and until he was satisfied that the young man was well, that was where Sully was going to be. 

There were still no signs of him pulling out of his temporary coma, but they had a feeling that as soon as some of the pangs and stronger medications wore off, he'd be awake and partially back to normal.

Sully didn't want to miss it.

Sighing to himself, he took up Ty's hand in his own. His thoughts went back to his dream with the two of them sitting in the RMP. He remembered seeing Ty's blood, still on his hands from the night of the shooting.

He could still feel it now, and he wondered if it would ever go away even with the prospect of Ty living through this ordeal. The memories would never go away, Sully knew, and the phantoms of a possible future without his partner would forever haunt him from this day forward; etching horrible visions of despair and loneliness in his head and heart as well as a life without someone to lean on. Sully wasn't sure if he could bear it.

Suddenly, Ty's hand twitched. A glance up revealed nothing, however. He was still very much asleep. The old man sighed, sitting back and staring down at his own hands, considering them once more.

"It's funny what it takes to make you realize what a person means to you," he spoke all of a sudden. Sully couldn't believe he was doing this: talking to a sleeping hospital patient. There was no way Ty could possibly hear him, yet he figured that it was the only way it was ever going to come out. "These past few days have been some of the most frightening of my life. I think that's saying something, just to let you know." Sully laughed, but the humor of his own words quickly died away without a response.

"I had...the strangest dream a few days ago..." he started. "You and I were talking. It wasn't typical talk, though, like our usual kind of stuff..." he stopped, sniffling. "You were talking to me as if you knew you were going to die. You told me you regretted dying so young, and that you would have liked the chance to settle down..."

"You also told me that you...you...considered me kind of like a father ...I know it's ridiculous. That that was probably never the case. You made it clear that you didn't want me to be your father when your mother and I became interested in each other. Not that I don't understand that. But...the way you said it...I wondered if it were real, you know?"

The silence did nothing to encourage him, but it did nothing to hinder him either. After taking a few seconds to continue organizing his thoughts, Sully went on, his words trembling as bad as his hands.

"I know I told you that part of me considered you as my son, in a sense. I wanted to teach you how to do the job right, I wanted to teach you what you needed to look for, and I wanted to look out for you. Fine job I did, huh?" He sniffled again, knowing he couldn't fight the tears that were welling in his eyes, yet for some reason he felt the need to try anyway.

Sully didn't want his partner to see him cry.

"You seemed to feel it very necessary that I move on," he continued. "I told you that I would, in this dream, but...that would have been a lie. You can't move on, Ty, when you lose the only thing you have left in your life."

"I don't know what it was, but somewhere in this dream, I felt as though you were already gone. I wanted to keep you there for as long as possible, but you were very insistent on leaving. Not that you wanted to, but because you knew you needed to. It's like you to do that, Ty. You do what you need to do even if you don't like it. I admire that, even if at times I don't agree with it."

Wiping the tears out of his eyes, Sully shook his head and laughed. "Like now, for example. You wouldn't be here if you hadn't felt the need to go through with that call till the end. I didn't want to, and neither did you, but it was your duty and you did it." He paused, looking down and away. "It was _our_ duty," he corrected after short moment. "And I should have been there too."

"I almost lost you, Ty. Again. I can't do that anymore." He stopped one more time, pausing as he felt the wave of sobs bubble up once more. "I don't know what you think of me. Whether I'm just a friend, a buddy at work, or something more, but I know that you're more than all of that to me. You're dad told me once what it was like, the feeling you get from being a father. Well, I feel the same way about you that he described. I'll always be there for you, Ty. I'm proud of you, kid."

"Thanks, Sul."

The old officer looked up, aghast. Ty was grinning widely. His half-open eyes held an equal expression, glittering in earnest humor.

"Davis!" Sully bellowed, not quite sure what else to say.

"That was really great, man. Worthy of a poetry award."

"You...you..." Sully wasn't sure he could find the words he wanted. "You son-of-a-bitch! You, you ass-..." the rest of the profanities were lost in Ty's echoing laugh.

When Sully finally got over himself, he stood and took his partner's head in his hands. "I could kiss you, you bastard!"

"Not now, Sully, people are watching!" he joked.

They both shared a hearty laugh as the elder officer plopped himself back down. "So, you heard me?" he asked after a few silent moments.

Ty nodded, a slender grin on his face. "Every word, man."

There was another pause, then Sully cleared his throat.

"Well, think whatever you want, but I'm not changing my stance."

Laughing, Ty looked up at the ceiling, then peered around the room. It was remarkably similar to the one he'd found Alex in...

Alex.

What had happened back then, he wasn't quite sure. Whether Ty had really been dead or not, he certainly wasn't now. Someone somewhere had deemed him worthy of a second chance. Ty surely wasn't going to take advantage of that.

"That's fine," he said at length. His eyes wavered for a second, and he was tempted to fall back into his deep sleep. He fought it back though, long enough to tell Sully everything that needed to be said.

"Do you want me to go so you can get some rest?"

"No," Ty said, shaking his head. He reached over to press the button that would allow his bed to incline slightly. After a few seconds, he was able to turn his head to easily face his partner. "No, I want you to stay. I want to tell you something."

Sully braced himself. He remembered the last time he'd been in this position. Ty had told him not to apologize because, if he had, he'd have to be angry over something that neither one of them wanted to believe had really happened. But it had happened, and _this _was happening now. Whatever was coming his way, Sully was ready. Any wave of anger was worth facing if it meant having Ty live to see another day.

"I thought I was going to die," he started, struggling to sit up a little higher so that he might share better eye contact with his partner. His friend. "I mean really. For a while there I thought I already was. I was afraid, but I was upset too."

"Really?" Sully asked. His face was overcast with a cross between a sad grimace and a curious frown. "Why's that?"

"I was upset because..." he stopped, sighing and looking around the room. This was going to be very strange for him, but after tonight, Ty didn't feel that he had the right to hold back any longer. "Because...if I had died...I knew that I'd never gotten then chance to tell you what you meant to me."

"Davis, I-"

"No, no!" Ty put up a hand to interrupt, wincing as he realized that it was the arm he'd been shot in. Easing it back down, he rested his head against the pillow but refused to allow the pain deter his personal desires. "Sully, you've been a great partner. All these years, you really have taught me a lot."

Sully shrugged. "It was my job," he explained disinterestedly. "Gotta teach the new kids the tools of the trade."

"Yeah, but you taught me so much more then that."

A weak grin came to the old man's face. "Yeah?"

Ty nodded, hesitant so as not to upset his shoulder again. "I'll always be grateful for that, of course. But you did more for me then that."

"Yeah," Sully laughed, a twinge of sarcasm in his voice. "I almost got you killed."

"That's not what I mean." Ty glared up at Sully, daring him to make another ridiculous remark. When nothing was said, Ty went on. "You were more than a partner. You were a friend, a brother...a father even, when I needed one."

Sully bit his bottom lip and looked down at the floor. He didn't want to think about that. What he'd done was nothing special, at least, not in his own eyes.

"Davis, you don't need to thank me for that."

"I know, but I want to. I mean, no one at the house would do for me what you've already done. No matter what, I know that you'll be there." He paused, then grinned. "Right?"

Sully didn't say anything for a second, then began nodding his head. "Yeah." His face bunched into an unceremonious expression that was neither happy nor sad, but somewhere in the middle, seasoned with a great amount of honorable affection. "Right." He looked up but stared instead directly ahead for a moment before turning on Ty with very little change in his countenance.

He stood then, almost instantly, and wrapped the younger man's head in his arms, hiding his face against the pillow so that Ty wouldn't see his tears. Unfortunately, it didn't work, because as they fell Ty felt their scalding hot betrayal against his own skin.

Not knowing what else to do, he used his good hand and wrapped it around the back of his partner's head as a makeshift returning hug.

Sully took a seat on the side of the bed, and they held that embrace for a very long time.

"You know I love you, Ty," Sully said at length, still never letting go of his partner. He'd been ripped from the young man's side one too many times, and he'd be damned if it ever happened again.

Ty nodded as best he could with his head buried in the large man's arms. "Yeah, I know. I love you too, Sul."

There was a few seconds in which the old patrol officer had to let those words sink in. He grinned happily and tightened his grip slightly around his partner, not wanting to invoke the rage of his still tender wounds. "That'll never change."

Ty grinned. "Damn straight."

After a few more minutes, Sully sniffled, then let his partner go. But not before planting a fatherly kiss on Ty's head. The young man grimaced as if disgusted, but Sully didn't miss the amused grin on the kid's face either.

"Get some rest," he said instantly. "I'm going to go see if they've got any food in this joint."

"It's a hospital, Sul," Ty replied with a grin, as if that answered the question to his 'righteous expedition'.

"Don't worry." Sully slipped on his jacket. "I'll bring you something back."

He disappeared out of the door and past the observation window faster than anything Ty had ever believed the man was capable of. Laughing, he leaned back into his bed and wondered if he could knock off a few more minutes of sleep before the man returned.

And he most definitely would be returning, just as soon as the tears of joy in his eyes had dried.

"Second chances," he whispered, throwing on his coat and stepping outside. The cool night air was surprisingly refreshing to the stuffy atmosphere of the hospital. Some coffee would definitely do him well, and probably some food too. Yet before he did anything, Sully directed his gaze to the ever darkening sky and smiled.

"Thank you."

* * *

_Yeah, okay, kind of an anti-climactic ending, right? Well, if it was, let me know in a review. If not, review anyway! I love to hear from y'all!_

* * *

_**So, what exactly happened to Ty?**_  
Well, originally I planned on killing him off, but when writing the story out I didn't like how it ended, so I considered bringing him back. However, that suggested some sort of supernatural twist that I wasn't willing to take. I'm trying to get out of the Harry Potter genre and in order to do that I need to stop thinking fantastically.  
So, instead, I devised it to make it seem as though Ty had died when in fact what he really had was a near death/out of body experience. This allowed for him to meet and talk with Alex as well as enter Sully's mind and tell him goodbye (It's not as fantastical as Harry Potter, okay? I don't really believe that kind of stuff happens but it beats pulling someone out of their own grave). 

_**The characterization is kind of shady. What's wrong?**_  
I've only seen half of season two, and season three just ended on AnE today. I also started watching it on NBC Friday nights, but unfortunately that was picking up about half way through season six. So, until the show comes out on DVD (hoping that happens real soon) I'm stuck with all the character experience I can get from watching reruns, incomplete seasons, and any and all recorded episodes I can get my hands on.

_**Just for kicks: Who's your favorite character?**_  
I'm very partial to Ty and Sully and their partnership. (Can't you tell?)

* * *

_Thanks for reading everyone! I'll probably dish out a few more stories in the near future as soon as I finish up the HP stuff._


End file.
